this what Pinball News thought about it...
The design contains, as we speculated in the previous reveal, a second ramp entrance on the left of the captive (or 'Newton') ball. A diverter appears to either allow the ball along the full length of the ramp, or send it straight back down the other entrance.
A shot to the right ramp entrance (without the diverter) sends the ball to the left on a wireform which orbits the Smaug toy before heading down to the left inlane. Details of Smaug are not shown in this drawing, just the space allocated for the mechanism.
In front of Smaug are five drop targets, the right three of which have standups behind, like the two other banks of drop targets.
There doesn't appear to be any direct interaction between the Smaug toy and the ball. However, there is an upkicker directly below Smaug which doesn't appear to have an obvious feed, so maybe Smaug grabs the ball off the wireform as it circles him?
Game designer Joe Balcer is very excited about the possibilities. He says, "The game is all about Smaug and his extreme interaction with the player. Creating The Hobbit journey with a pinball layout is an awesome challenge that I have totally enjoyed putting together. Can't wait to start shooting a full game!"
We can now see how the subway is fed through a hole in the playfield above Smaug. Balls can be sent here by a magnet mounted under the top of the orbit lane, just like the magnet on the right drops the ball into the pop bumpers.
A second spinner rounds off the information revealed by this final part of the puzzle. And yet the puzzle is still incomplete. What will Smaug look like, and what will he do?
Despite having the full drawing , there's still plenty of room for speculation.
As always, we'll bring you all the latest news about The Hobbit right here at Pinball News.
